The danger and immodesty of the present too general custom of unnecessarily employing men-midwives / Being the letters which lately appeared under the signature of a man-midwife. With an introduction, a treatise on the milk, and an appendix.

by Anonymous

The favourable reception my last letter met with from the public, leads me to hope our married men will seriously reflect on the dangers which attend the employing Men-midwives to attend their wives, except in cases where there is the most urgent necessity for the interference of art. I flatter myself it will not be difficult to convince sensible, modest women of two undeniable truths, which nothing but prejudice, or vice, can render them blind to the force of:—First, that Men-midwives are not so safe as women;—and secondly, that it is absolutely impossible to permit men to take the unbounded freedoms which Men-midwives falsely pretend are necessary, without throwing themselves entirely at their mercy, and, at all events, being polluted by their needless invasion.

The Men-midwives and their friends, have wisely chose to be silent. They are conscious my assertions cannot be denied with any shadow of truth, they therefore prudently have declined the combat. If they had attempted controverting my arguments, they must have discovered the sandy foundations on which they have established the idea of their being the proper attendants on the labours of women. Objections which they cannot remove,—dangers which they cannot dissipate,—and impurities which no varnish can conceal, they wish to avoid mentioning; fearful lest an attempt to answer my letter, should display to the world the weakness and insufficiency of their defence, and stimulate abler pens than mine to continue the subject too long for their interest. They vainly imagine my letter will soon be forgotten, and be consigned to oblivion amongst waste paper. But they are mistaken,—this letter shall accompany it annually to the press, to remind my fair countrywomen of the inestimable value of chastity,—and to warn them from those practices which pave the way to the most flagrant breach of it;—and I am not without hope that I shall be joined by the friends of virtue, and assisted in the arduous talk I have undertaken. What undertaking can be more difficult to succeed in, than an endeavour to reform the manners of a vicious age? Yet, encouraged by the consciousness of the rectitude of my intentions, and of the sincerity of my wishes to repair the foundations of matrimonial happiness, I freely offer my sentiments to the world,—let the candid weigh them in the scale of common-sense,—and either adopt, or disregard them, as they appear to tend to the benefit, or prejudice of mankind. The consequence of their decision will principally affect themselves,—it will not reach to me.

The Men-midwives are sensible, that, when they urge their knowledge in anatomy as a reason for their being safer than women, they mean to take advantage of the ignorance of mankind. Where very rare, particular circumstances occur, undoubtedly the knowledge of anatomy becomes then absolutely necessary to direct the operator in the means requisite to save the woman’s life. In that distressed, unhappy, deplorable situation, no modesty can possibly be violated. The poor afflicted woman, is, if sensible, so taken up with anxious thoughts, and torturing pains, that she is not conscious of the transaction—and the Royal Exchange, when crouded, might be spectators, without attracting her attention, or interrupting her fears. It is quite different in a very large majority of labours. The woman has many intervals of ease,—she does not apprehend there is any peculiar danger in her case:—her mind, while free from pain, is at liberty calmly to attend to whatever is done. There is not above one labour in a thousand where there is any occasion for the knowledge of anatomy. I insist that except in those very extraordinary cases, a knowledge of anatomy leads Men-midwives frequently to do great mischief. It makes them impatient. They know how to bring on the labour pains,—they know how to force the birth. From this destructive knowledge, numbers of children are demolished,—numbers of women are thrown into fevers by lacerations and inflammations, which might have the worst consequences, and which never would have happened if the knowledge of anatomy had not tempted men to have recourse to art within the proper boundaries of nature’s empire. For this reason, if I was a married man, I would not employ even a woman who had been bred under a Man-midwife. Her knowing the parts anatomically, and understanding the use of instruments, and pursuing the teizing, fiddling customs of the men who had instructed her, instead of recommending her to me, would be a sufficient cause to prevent my employing her.

The only safe knowledge for a midwife to possess, is, that which is taught by experience. Whenever it ceases being possible for nature, with such assistance, to do her work, then, and then only, art ought to be called in with instruments to aid.—Yet our young women are not ashamed premeditately to resolve on employing men, though there are such a multitude of chances against the supposition of a dead child—or that there will be occasion for the destruction of her infant to save her own life. It is for this wanton use of men, that I wish I had abilities to expose their want of modesty in colours striking enough to hold out our women to the universal ridicule of the world, and draw down on them the contempt and indignation of the virtuous.

Is it not laughable to hear of a modest woman sending for a man to inform her whether or not she is with child, and how far gone?—Heavens! a little patience would soon have cleared up that matter, and the most skilful man may be mistaken, even allowing the supposition (which is not probable) that he may be quite cool, and experience no fluttering sensations to confuse his mind during the serious investigation. Why cannot the lady allow a few months to elapse? Her doubts would then have been removed, without any male intrusions, without scandalous violations of modesty—without, what I term, shameful pollutions of her person.

What must Men-midwives think of those ladies, who send for them to be inspected on such trifling occasions? What can they avoid thinking? Must they not conclude, that those ladies are restrained from adultery not by any principle of virtue, but by a dread of the consequences; and, since they can admit no man to familiarities but their Man-midwife (who is the priviledged father confessor of England) without losing their reputations, they are resolved to be as immodest, without losing their characters, as the depraved, profligate custom of the world can authorize them? Men-midwives entertain each other with curious recitals of their adventures among the fair:—Surely those women cannot justly be pitied, who thus by their folly, or vice, furnish subjects first for their sensual ideas, and afterwards for their mirth.

I have been a good deal amused by hearing my letter commented on in different companies, where the author was far from being suspected to be present. The Men-midwives, and the ladies who receive pleasure from employing them, never can forgive me for having exposed their conduct. All they can however say against me, is, that I am “very indelicate;”—that “it is a shame such papers should appear.”—Let them be informed, Mr. Printer, that if I am “indelicate,” it is because they are immodest. Where the bone is corrupted, the flesh must be removed, and the foul parts laid bare, in order to be scraped, and purified—desperate disorders require desperate remedies. The “shame” does not consist in what I write but in what they do.—Let them quit their practice, I will most readily throw aside my pen.

I should be sorry to entertain so bad an opinion of the generality of my fair countrywomen, as to suppose them hardened by the depraved custom of the times, beyond a possibility of being roused to a sense of danger for themselves and infants, and to a sense of virtue. Doctor Hunter is, beyond dispute, the best Man-midwife in the world—yet, let the advocates for the indiscriminate use of men lay their hands on their hearts, and answer me ingenuously this question—Suppose any three of the best Midwives in London had lost in their lives, the same number of women of fashion Doctor Hunter has lost within these two or three years,[3] would they not have exclaimed loudly, and taken advantage of those deaths to prove the danger of employing women? All England would have rung of their mismanagement—and the women would have been ruined!—There are women in London who have laid several thousands, and yet never lost either a mother or an infant.

Though the abandoned custom exculpates ladies in the estimation of a dissipated world, yet I recommend to their confederation how their thoughts, during the visits of Men-midwives, will stand the test of the penetrating eye of their Creator.